Terms and Conditions

Eligibility

The competition is open to all photographers, amateur and professional, worldwide, except employees of Vamoos, Excio and Captivating Photography Journal and any individuals involved in judging the competition. Entrants under 16 must have the consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Entry period

The competition opens on 10 December 2025. Entries submitted outside this period will not be accepted.

How to enter

Each participant may submit an unlimited number of free entries by using the form.
Entries must be submitted through the official form on this website by the closing date and time.

Submission guidelines

All photos must be the entrant’s own original work. Judges may request the original files for verification.
The theme of the competition is travel and tourism. A list of country categories will be available on the main competition page. Photographs from these locations will be given priority during judging.
Any subject matter is welcome. Photographs capturing interesting, well known or lesser known places, experiences, people, wildlife, or architecture are all eligible.
Digital post-processing is allowed except for the use of AI replacement, generative, auto-generative, or extension tools. The original image must be taken by the entrant.
Files must be submitted as .jpg or .jpeg and be no smaller than 2000px on the short edge.
All images must have geolocation metadata intact. While this may not be available with old camera models, all images must have the location details and author name in the image file name.
Entries must not contain infringing, unlawful, threatening, misleading, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, inflammatory, pornographic, or otherwise inappropriate content.

Judging and criteria

Entries will be judged on overall impact, originality, composition, technical excellence, and artistic merit. All decisions made by the judges are final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the outcomes.

Prizes

Shortlisted entries will be selected and, from these, winning entries will receive a payment of 5 NZD per photo. Payment will be processed within 45 days of images being selected.

Rights and permissions

By entering the competition, entrants grant Vamoos, Insert, Excio and the Captivating Photography Journal a royalty free, non exclusive licence to display shortlisted entries for the purposes of administering and promoting the competition.
Winners grant Vamoos, Insert, Excio and the Captivating Photography Journal a royalty free, non exclusive licence to use, display, reproduce and share the winning photographs, in whole or in part, in any media now known or developed in the future. The images may be used by Vamoos and its associated companies and clients for marketing travel and travel systems in perpetuity, including websites, itineraries, travel proposals, marketing material and internal communications. This applies only to photos for which the entrant has received payment.
Photographer credit will be included wherever a submitted image is used.
No further compensation or approvals will be required in connection with these permitted uses.

Data protection

Personal information collected for the competition will be processed in line with applicable data protection laws and will be used only for the administration of the competition.

Indemnity

By entering, participants agree to release and indemnify Vamoos, Insert, Excio, Captivating Photography Journal, and their affiliates from any claims, liabilities, losses, injuries, or damages arising out of participation in the competition or use of any prize.

Amendments

Excio, Vamoos, and Insert reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time. Any changes will be posted on the competition website.

Acceptance of terms

By submitting an entry, the entrant confirms they have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.